An investigation of Facebook users' implicit associations between Facebook, sexual and prosocial behavior

Exploring the Relationship between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Implicit Attitudes toward Violence

Past research has associated callous-unemotional traits (CU) in young people with serious conduct problems and antisocial behavior. However, whether CU traits influence implicit attitudes toward violence remains largely unexplored. We assess this hypothesis in two independent samples: a sample of youth with no criminal records (Study 1, N = 86), and in a sample of young offenders (Study 2, N = 61). Both groups were not compared due to theoretical (very different demographics) and statistical reasons (the total sample was insufficient to be able to reach the statistical power required in the comparison of both groups). Further, we use an implicit procedure to examine whether CU traits modulate wanting for violent stimuli. Across two samples of youth, we found little evidence of an association between CU traits and implicit violent cognition. In youth with no criminal records, implicit attitudes toward violence were related to the unemotional factor of CU traits, but unrelated to other factors and to a global CU traits score. CU traits were not associated with implicit attitudes toward violence in young offenders. The latter finding was mirrored in the implicit wanting task. Overall, our findings cast some doubts on the adequacy of implicit measures to assess implicit violent cognition in youth with CU traits. We discuss potential methodological limitations of this research (e.g., characteristics of the sample and performance in the implicit procedures) that may impact our results.

How Does Social Currency Influence Prosocial Behavior? The Role of Collective Self-Esteem and Communication Network Heterogeneity

The social currency, the existing potential resource in the social networks and communities of an individual, has become more significant in the era of information technology. Meanwhile, the rapid development of Internet service, especially its application on mobile devices, brings many new contents of prosocial behaviors (PBs), which benefits both individuals and communities. Specifically, social currency plays a positive role in promoting PB, forming positive personalities, promoting positive social adaptation, and contributing to human survival and social development. However, the theoretical research in this field still lags far behind the development of practice, and the research on the impact of social currency on PB remains exceedingly scarce. Grounded in the social exchange theory (SET), the present study collects a total of 497 WeChat user questionnaires, constructs a model for the influence mechanism of social currency on PB, and tests the hypothesis through hierarchical regression. According to the results obtained, it was found that the social currency is positively associated with PB, and users with a more social currency are more likely to act prosocially on their own. The PB of an individual is then influenced by the social currency generated through collective self-esteem (CS) so that the perception of CS can be considered as a mediating variable. Moreover, the communication network heterogeneity (CNH) moderates the above relationship, and the degree of heterogeneity will have different effects on the relationship of CS. The obtained conclusions enrich the previous theoretical results of PB and provided new insights for social managers to enhance the prosocial-related behaviors for the group, organization, and society.

Comparing the extent and pattern of use of social networking sites by medical and non medical university students: a multi-center study

Objectives

Although use of social networking sites (SNSs) for fun and leisure is escalating, educational use of SNSs by students is low. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of data about the use of SNSs by students from different faculties. This study compared patterns and extent of use of SNSs among medical and nonmedical university students.

Methods

A 21-statement questionnaire was administered to the students of medical colleges of two Saudi universities and nonmedical students of two Chinese universities. Demographic data, nature of SNSs, and strategies used for sharing knowledge were collected and analyzed.

Results

Of 2,350 respondents, 92% used SNSs for various reasons. Overall, 624 (26.6%) students used SNSs for education and found these sites to be useful (P=0). Educational use of SNSs was significantly higher in medical than nonmedical students (P=0). However, nonmedical students found SNSs more useful for social connections than medical students, with mean rankings of 1,328 and 978, respectively. WhatsApp use was significantly greater among medical students, while WeChat was more popular with nonmedical students (P=0).

Conclusion

This study reports low use of SNSs for education by university students. For sharing knowledge, WhatsApp was more popular among medical students and WeChat for nonmedical students. This research demands educational reforms that can uniformly embed the use of social media in teaching and learning pedagogies across disciplines.